Posts Tagged ‘LinkedIn Profiles’

A colleague, David Brock, made an update posting on LinkedIn sharing his frustration about people using company profiles wanting to connect with him. Then if he did accept, the next action would be a sales pitch. Beyond being a violation of LinkedIn policy, this action demonstrated how many lazy salespeople still exist. (Note: Only a person not a company can send a LinkedIn invitation.)

Lazy Salespeople and LinkedIn Invitations

Then there are those template LinkedIn invitations from people. I have been tracking mine recently and in the last week all 20 plus invitations used the general, template invitation. Not one person took the time to personalize the LinkedIn invitation. Several did send me a sales pitch after the invitation was accepted and I immediately disconnected from them.

Imagine how refreshing it would be to actually receive a personalized LinkedIn invitation. The invite would educate you, the recipient, as to what prompted the invite. Then you don’t have to rack your brains or do your research to figure out who in the heck this person is or how in the heck do I know him or her.

LinkedIn Coaching Tip Courtesy of Viveka von Rosen: If you are using the mobile app, there are 3 little dots on the top right and by clicking on these dots you can see the option to personalize the invitation.

LinkedIn Messages and Sales Pitches

How about those LinkedIn email messages and their sales pitches? Many if not most of these LinkedIn members never truly read the profile of the person they are pitching. Again, their desire to pitch demonstrates their laziness.

LinkedIn is an excellent social media platform to locate sales leads and then to begin to build a relationship. Making a sales pitch right out of the gate is beyond ridiculous. This sales strategy and tactic will not increase sales.

LinkedIn Profiles and Lazy Salespeople

Possibly the most obvious laziness is in LinkedIn profiles. Beyond having a headline that looks like all the other headlines for a particular industry, the summary is usually a regurgitation of the person’s resume. Many even lack a professional photography. The attitude is throw up anything and it will stick while the reality is throw up anything and it will probably suck.

If your goal is to increase sales, then revisit your LinkedIn profile and your marketing strategy. Yes LinkedIn can increase sales and quickly demonstrate to others if you are one of those lazy salespeople.

Over the years I am continually surprised by the realtors who fail to leverage LinkedIn to increase sales. This is especially true for those selling higher value residential real estate to professional executives.

Now many realtors will tout the marketing advantage of Facebook to increase sales. Yet when it comes to sending traffic to your home page, LinkedIn substantially outperforms Facebook and Twitter.

Marketing Fact: LinkedIn sends nearly 4 times more people than Facebook or Twitter to your home page (Source: iQ Investis)

LinkedIn users spend 26% of their time on LinkedIn using the mobile app

Of course, these marketing demographics mean nothing if you lack an Ideal Customer Profile. This profile is the result of a thorough and complete strategic plan. Unfortunately, many realtors and other small business owners engage in the role of Captain Wing It by spraying their marketing messages all over the wall and then praying something will stick. This spray and pray approach will not increase sales, but rather drains limited resources of time, energy, money and emotions.

Industry insights is the most in demand content by six out of 10 LinkedIn users. (Source: LinkedIn) What this means for realtors is executives who are buying higher value residential real estate want to know what is happening within the industry or industries of where they are seeking real estate to purchase. Writing articles or just posting updates (content marketing) about school performance, taxes, community activities, etc. all provide insight these potential high value buyers are seeking.

One Quick Tip to Improve Visits to Your LinkedIn Profile

Beyond having a headline that goes beyond “realtor” but provides some insight as to why you are different, having a photo secures 21 times more profile views. Also those LinkedIn Profiles with photos get 36 times for LinkedIn messages.

If you are a realtor and want to increase sales for those higher value residential real estate, then it may make sense to invest some time on LinkedIn just by using the free account.

Want to speak with Leanne to learn more about how to increase sales? Just CLICK HERE to schedule a FREE 30 minute strategy session.